Method of providing a virtual product to third parties

ABSTRACT

In a method of providing a virtual product to third parties, the virtual product being present in an original version in a digital form having a predetermined quality, a reduced version of the virtual product, along with information relating to a distributor of the virtual product, is initially provided. The reduced version&#39;s quality is inferior to the quality of the original version, and the information relating to the distributor are associated with this reduced version. On the basis of the information associated with the reduced version, further information may be created. This further information indicates that the reduced version has been passed on to the third party by the content provider. The further information is created if the third party has acquired rights to the virtual product after having obtained the reduced version of same.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method of providing a virtual productto third parties, and here it relates, in particular, to a methodwherein the virtual product is present in a digital form and furtherincludes additional information indicating which rights a third partyhaving received the virtual product has acquired in relation to same. Inaddition, the present invention relates to a computer program having aprogram code for performing the method of providing a virtual product tothird parties.

2. Description of Prior Art

The term “virtual product” describes intellectual property, such asmusic, a novel, a picture, a film, a program or the like, which may berepresented in a digital form, typically as a file. Files underconsideration are, for example, an MP3 file, a PDF file, an AVI file, anEXE file, and the like.

The production and distribution of a virtual product, such asmultimedia, are expensive. The production and distribution are organizedby a content provider. The latter bears the economic risk for the goods(virtual product). This is the model on which, e.g., the global musicindustry is based. The same applies to software distribution.Non-legalized copies or pirate copies of multimedia products andsoftware products as well as their non-licensed passing-on underminethis economic model. In the case of the music industry, there is thequestion whether it will be possible, in the future, for production tocarry on existing at all, when nobody will be able to pay authors,composers and performers anymore, since their products will no longerhave any market value.

As a counter-measure, the software and music industries are trying, forexample, to limit the uncontrolled circulation of their products. Thesoftware and music industries are faced with a dilemma, however: on theone hand, they want to hand out the product to legal buyers, i.e. totransfer the product to the users' devices and thus to pass them on tothe user's range of influence. There, however, they are only supposed tobe of limited availability to the users' desire to use them. However, itis not the content providers that possess the instruments of power forimplementing this limitation, but only their users. However, masses ofusers renounce to being limited in that way—they rather simply carry onspreading the products purchased. The music industry, for example,reacts to this by presenting a security concept obliging the users toutilize players wherein the use of the products is checked upon in theuser's device. The product purchased by the user (content stream) hasthe specification of so-called IPMP elements contained therein(IPMP=Intellectual Property Rights Management and Protection). It isonly these IPMP elements that make it possible at all to be able to playthe product acquired on a terminal device. The problem associated withthis is that every product contains the elements of its decryption, sothat the limitations of the IPMP elements may be lifted by suitablereprogramming. This reprogramming may be performed, for example, by asimple personal computer. The industry standards rely on a large numberof customers, the number being significant in terms of the economy, tocomply with the functionality of the standardized IPMP devices.

The principle of the common models of rights, e.g. IPMP, provides for anelement installed in the terminal device to control the use of a productacquired in the terminal device at the user's end. In particular, itprevents uncontrolled passing-on. Here, the individual user's interestis not met. On the contrary, the user is restricted in his/her freedom.Rather, the user is called upon to undermine, by means of his/herdevice, the distributor's interest, i.e. the prevention of theuncontrolled spreading of the products.

Thus, this model infringes upon a fundamental principle of open securityrequirements, i.e. that which states that in an open world ofcommunication partners not subject to any central control, those thatpursue an interest must also have the means to push through thisinterest. This is done, e.g., in exchanging signed declarations ofintention, acknowledgements and agreements. Those who have an interestin a promise of their communication partner being met, possess, in theform of the partner's signature, a piece of evidence which cannot bedisputed by the partner and with which they may enforce the promisebeing met, if need be before court.

With the IPMP approach, the contrary applies. Those who have an interestin restricting the use of their products hand out the means forenforcing their interests to a communication partner who will berestricted in his interests by these very means.

This provides an explanation for the big success of Internet exchanges,such as Napster and subsequent file-sharing models.

Thus, there is a need to regain a sound basis for the security model formultimedia rights, especially on the Internet.

An approach is to associate any self-limiting good behavior of userswith advantages for them which are more enticing than any behaviordeviating therefrom. These advantages could be, for example, discounts,the possibility of returning products, or quality warrantees.

More effective than these incentives, however, is the reversal of theabove-mentioned nature of the interests involved, i.e. to the effectthat the spreading of multimedia products, which spreading is obviouslyin the users' interest, may also be recognized by the distributors asbeing in their own interest, and, accordingly, is not inhibited, but, onthe contrary, promoted. The content providers' interest must be for theclients (users) to spread the products as much and as widely aspossible, which is not at all bizarre, since the distributor of productsanyhow is interested in the products being widely circulated. Of course,a fundamental interest of the distributor is that the productdistributed should be paid for.

To achieve this, users are made sales partners of the content providers,i.e. they are made nodal points of sales. Users who pay for andcirculate a multimedia product or software or similar virtual productare given a commission out of the purchase price that the receiver paysfor the product obtained. If the receiver pays no purchase price, thesender will not receive any commission, in which case the receiver, inhis/her turn, will also never be entitled to receive a commission fee.In order to enable the above-described approach, the virtual productmust be labeled so as to associate the potentially acquired rights tothe virtual product.

An example of the above-mentioned labeling of virtual products has beendescribed, for example, in DE 102 17 862 A, which discloses a method oflabeling a virtual product as it is passed on to third parties. Thevirtual product is present in a digital form, and the labeling indicateswhich rights a third party having received the virtual product hasacquired in relation to the virtual product. In accordance with thismethod, the virtual product is provided by a distributor, and electronicdocumentation is created for the virtual product provided and isassociated with the virtual product which is present in the form of afile. After the file has been passed on to a third party, if the thirdparty wants to acquire any rights to the virtual product, the necessarytransaction for acquiring the desired right is initially performed. Uponcompletion of the transaction, an electronic acknowledgement is producedand associated with the file having the associated electronicdocumentation. The acknowledgment has information about the rights thethird party has acquired by means of the transaction stored therein.

The method described in DE 102 17 862 A is advantageous in that thebuyer of a product is now encouraged to further spread the virtualproduct he/she has legally acquired, since he/she is now entitled to acommission in the event that a receiver buys this product.

However, a disadvantage is that the virtual product is always sent on tothird parties in the original format, i.e. in the original version, sothat these third parties will always hold a full version of the virtualproduct in their hands, irrespective of whether the rights to thisproduct have been acquired or not. Thus, the reward for the first buyerwho has passed on the product solely depends on the good will of thereceiver who even—though he/she already holds in his/her hand a fullversion—must effect the purchase of same.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

On the basis of this prior art, it is the object of the presentinvention to provide an improved method of providing a virtual productto third parties, wherein there is, also on the side of the receiver, anincentive to acquire the virtual product and thus to pay off the rewardto the first buyer.

The present invention provides a method of providing a virtual productto third parties, the virtual product being present in an originalversion in a digital form having a predetermined quality, the methodconsisting of the following steps:

-   -   (a) providing a reduced version of the virtual product, and        information relating to a distributor of the virtual product,        the reduced version of the virtual product having a quality        which is inferior to the quality of the original version, and        the information relating to the distributor being associated        with the reduced version of the virtual product;        wherein, on the basis of the information associated with the        reduced version, additional information, which indicates that        the reduced version of the virtual product has been passed on to        a third party by the distributor, may be created if the third        party has acquired rights to the virtual product after obtaining        the reduced version of the virtual product.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment, the method further includesthe step of passing on the reduced version of the virtual product to athird party. If the third party, who has received the reduced version ofthe virtual product, wants to acquire rights to the virtual product inthe original version, the necessary transactions will be performed so asto obtain a predetermined right, such as purchase, lease, etc., to thevirtual product in the original version. Upon completion of thetransaction, the necessary information will be received for obtainingthe original version of the virtual product. In addition, on the basisof the information associated with the reduced version, information willbe produced which indicates that the transaction is based on thepassing-on of the reduced product by the distributor.

In accordance with a first preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, the reduced version of the virtual product is a copy of sameof reduced quality. In this case, receiving the information forobtaining the full version includes receiving the original version ofthe virtual product. In this case, the reduced version may be effectedby limiting the bit rate/bandwidth of the original version of thevirtual product, by inserting voice and/or sound into the originalversion or by hierarchical coding of the original version, the codinghere including dispensing with certain improvement layers, i.e.providing only a base layer. In addition, the copy of reduced qualitymay be obtained by manual or automatic cutting of the original version.

For producing the reduced version, technologies may generally be usedwhich extract significant parts of the original version of the virtualproduct. Here, e.g., characteristics of the audio signal are used forfinding musical segments in the piece, which may also be referred to as“audio segmenting”.

Thus, manual cutting, automatic cutting and all intermediate stages maybe used for creating a preview (for example, manual cutting may befacilitated by “proposals” provided by audio-segmenting algorithms).

The term “segmenting” is used in two manners, e.g., in automaticanalysis of music: firstly, in the microscopic sense, for the separationof individual sound and/or note objects, secondly, from a more or lessmacroscopic perspective, for the separation of individual musical themesegments such as introduction, verse, chorus, solo, instrumental part,interlude etc. This is to be referred to as musical segmenting. Forautomatic detection of the latter segments, various technologies andapproaches were known in the past which are mostly based on theextraction of so-called low-level features and a comparison of samewithin a piece of music. What is referred to as low-level features areclose-to-signal features which are taken from the audio signal atrelatively small expense, but which are, in principle, different fromthe manner in which humans perceive music. An example of this is thenumber of zero crossings of the signal per time, the spectral course ofenergy, spectral flatness and the main focus of the spectrum. Thosefeatures which describe music in a semantically higher sense would be,among others, the pitch, the instruments involved and the line andcharacteristic of singing. Musical segmenting is possible with bothtypes of features, an extraction of the semantically higher-levelfeatures, however, being more difficult and only to be achieved athigher computational expense.

Alternatively, in accordance with a second preferred embodiment, thereduced version of the virtual product may be an at least partiallyencrypted version of the original version, so that, here, receiving theinformation for obtaining the full version includes receiving a key fordecrypting the at least partially encrypted version. In this case,provision of the reduced version includes at least partial encryption ofthe original version of the virtual product.

The information relating to the distributor of the reduced productpreferably includes the introduction of additional data into the reducedversion of the virtual product, for example in accordance with theMPEG-½ standard and/or the MPEG4 standard, by using a specific formatand/or by a watermark.

In accordance with a further preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, the buyer of the virtual product is also provided with areduced version of same after the purchase, and further informationrelating to the distributor and/or the third party are provided to thisfurther reduced versions. Hereby, in a further passing-on of the reducedversion to a further third party, a production of further information isenabled which indicate that an acquisition of a predetermined right tothe original version of the virtual product by the further third partyis based on the passing-on of the reduced version by the distributorand/or the third party.

In accordance with a further preferred aspect, the present inventionprovides a computer program having a program code for performing theinventive method if the program runs on a computer.

Thus, an improved method of providing virtual products to third partiesis provided in accordance with the present invention, which methodenables, especially with multimedia files, a sales promotion in thedistribution of the multimedia contents by creating, passing on and,later on, associating personalized content samples. Unlike conventionaldistribution systems which conventionally prevent the buyer, in one formor other, from passing on the content “discovered” by him/her, inaccordance with the invention, the passing-on of the content in the formof inferior previews (reduced version of the original version of thevirtual product) is not prevented, but rewarded.

The inventive approach has the effect that the natural motivation ofconsumers to go around on a mission of spreading their “discoveries”among others is not suppressed but promoted. By personalizing thepreviews, successful advertising may be associated with the advertiser,which enables various forms of reward.

The inventive method provides a number of benefits. Firstly, passing onpreviews is more attractive than passing on the original full version,i.e. the original content, since, for one thing, a reward may beobtained, and, secondly, the use of restrictive technical protectivemeasures that would have been required to protect the original contentmay be dispensed with, which, among other things, increases theuser-friendliness. In addition, this yields a positive sales effect(advertisement) by the content being passed on, whereas the negativeconsequences of a sale that would have arisen from the passing-on of theoriginal version are eliminated. The inventive approach further providesan additional benefit and “is fun”, since the buyers may go round doing“missionary” work and are even rewarded for it. They are also in aposition to co-create the type of advertising, which gives rise tocompetition among the buyers. A further advantage is that the previewsmay be passed on, in principle, via any distribution channel. What isalso advantageous is that the inventive method may be added to and/orintegrated into various, already existing distribution systems at alater date without significant expense.

In accordance with the invention, the method thus provides adistribution system for virtual products or goods, e.g. audio/music,video etc., which system is based on making the content known as much aspossible so as to achieve financial profits for artists and labels.

The idea on which the present invention is based is that when or uponbuying an object, the customers obtain a devalued copy (reduced version)of the original, i.e. a preview, this copy being customized andcontaining all information for a new purchase. Free passing-on of thispreview is not only permitted, but desired. If the passing-on results ina new purchase, the transaction may be associated with the advertiser.This may be the basis for various business models rewarding successfuladvertising. This gives rise to a “natural” incentive for the buyer tonot pass on the original, but previews. The free distribution ofpreviews thus leads to a high degree of familiarity with the content andthus acts to promote sales. Due to the small size of the previews, manydistribution channels may be considered. The system may coexist with anexisting copy protection, but is not dependent thereon. In addition, thecentrally collected data are suitable for market research purposes.

In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention,there are two variants of models, i.e. the “small preview” and the“large preview”. With the small preview, it is only ever the inferiorcopy that is passed on. The full-value version and/or the originalversion must be re-transferred upon purchase. In the “large preview”, anartificially devalued version of the original, which, however, alreadycontains the information required for becoming a full-value product, ispassed on. What needs to be done at the time of purchase is to onlytransfer/acquire a key so as to obtain a full-value product.

In addition, provision may be made for the buyers to continue creatingthe previews assigned to them by themselves, i.e. to perform their owncuts, to introduce additional information, e.g. their own opinion,information about the performer, words and the like. References topersonal websites may also be included. This information may be providedin any common format, e.g. in the HTML format or in the XML format.

The inventive method is open to a variety of possible applications.Mention shall be made, for example, of the method described in theabove-mentioned DE 102 17 862 A, wherein, in this case, the reward wouldbe in the form of a share in consequential proceeds. Distribution may beeffected via a conventional download or via a peer-to-peer approach.Common download portals may be expanded, using the inventive method, byproviding the reward for example in the form of bonuses, titles, pointsand certain privileges, such as “preferred user”, or in the form of acontact with an artist. The conventional, or traditional, distributionmay also be expanded. By providing a tool to the buyer of an audio CD ora DVD, e.g. on the CD/DVD or via a download, previews of theconventional audio CDs or DVD audios may be created and passed on.

A so-called “super distribution” also opens up, in accordance with whichthe “large previews” are distributed on physical sound carriers or vianetworks, the enabling, or activation, being effected by a key at alater stage. In addition, in this context, the “large previews” may beadded to conventional sound carriers upon delivery.

For existing P2P (peer-to-peer) services, there is, in accordance withthe invention, the possibility of an addition by sharing a number ofpreviews without any originals being provided. In addition, a bond tothe download portal is facilitated.

For a preview portal there is a possibility of providing new content andto determine the circulation, popularity and value of same. In addition,it is possible to determine good scouts, i.e. distributors who advertisesuccessfully and/or prove to have a good nose for content with potentialfor the future.

In accordance with a further embodiment, the inventive method may serveas a “bait” via print media; entry codes, e.g. on an admission ticketbeing assigned for concerts, at the cinema or similar events, whichentry codes provide, after having being input, certain previews fordownloading, in this case the reward being granted, upon purchase of thefull version, to the organizer having provided these entry codes on theadmission ticket.

For storing and transmitting audio/music contents as previews, commonstandards such as MPEG-½ or MPEG-4 as well as audio coding methods suchas MP3, AAC, among others, but also MIDI, are preferably suitable.Potential distribution media are, preferably, networks, portable storagemedia, portable computers, and mobile phones. The choice of the formatand coding method suitable in each case depends on the distributionmedium; for the transmission via mobile phone, for example, the MMSstandard is suitable.

For producing a devalued copy for the “small previews”, either aqualitative restriction (sound quality) or quantitative restriction(length) are both suitable. Qualitative restriction is achieved, forexample, by a psychoacoustic “intelligent” restriction of the bitrate/bandwidth of the original version. In addition, the bitrates/bandwidth may also be restricted manually. In addition, of course,natural voice and/or synthetic sounds may be added. This may be achievedby performing, prior to coding, a level reduction and, subsequently, byinserting the voice and/or sounds. Alternatively, hierarchical codingmay also be effected, in this case use being made only of the baselayer, while any improvement layers are dispensed with, however.

Quantitative restriction may be effected, for example, by theabove-described manual or automatic cutting. The above-described methodsof qualitative and quantitative restriction may also be combined,quantitative restriction having the advantage, in principle, thatthereby more favorable legal conditions may be achieved, especially withregard to potential fees that may incur (compared to the fees requiredin the passing-on of the full version).

The technical method of implementation for the “large previews” isencryption, an inferior quality being achieved here without theappropriate key. Similarly, hierarchical coding may be effected here,wherein the preview contains only the base layer, and the full-valueversion additionally contains the improvement layers that may be enabledby means of the key required.

In traditional distribution, the connection between preview and originalmay be effected, for example, by suitable audio identification.

The personalization and/or introduction of additional information intothe preview may be achieved by conventional formats, such as theauxiliary data in accordance with the AAC standard and the MP3 standard(ID3 tag). Alternatively, a specific format may be used, or a watermarkmay be introduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be explained belowin more detail with reference to the accompanying figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a graphic representation for illustrating the inventivemethod;

FIGS. 2A and 2B show a flow chart of the inventive method in accordancewith a preferred embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a graphic representation for illustrating a preferredembodiment of the inventive method;

FIG. 4 is a representation of the actions between different entities ifthe reduced version of the virtual product is a “small preview”; and

FIG. 5 is a representation of the actions between various entities ifthe reduced version of the virtual product is a “large preview”.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following description of the preferred embodiments of the presentinvention, the same reference numerals will be used for elements whichare identical or have the same effects.

FIG. 1 shows a graphic representation illustrating an overview of theinventive method. A first buyer 100 has information about a virtualproduct he/she is interested in, in the exemplary case a title of musicthat may be referred to, by way of example, as “mysong”. The music title“mysong” is provided and offered for sale by a provider 102, e.g. anetwork service, a record company or the like. The first buyer 100 nowbuys the music title “mysong” (arrow 104), and, consequently, provider102 transfers a full version of the music title “mysong” along with areduced version of “Mysong I” (see arrow 106) to the first buyer 100.The reduced version further has information about the first buyer 100associated with it, which information label him/her as the buyer of thefull version. This information was obtained, for example, during thepurchasing action. Alternatively, provision may be made for the firstbuyer 100 to have the instruments required for creating the reducedversion from the full version and, in addition, to associate theinformation that have been associated with the buyer with this reducedversion. In this case, a further transferal between the first buyer 100and the provider 102 would be necessary for providing this information,in particular the association between the reduced version and the firstbuyer, to the provider as well.

After the purchase of the piece of music, the buyer 100 decides to passit on to an acquaintance, the second buyer 108. In accordance with theinvention, the first buyer 100, however, does not pass on the fullversion, but only the reduced version with the information associatedwith the first buyer 100, as is shown by arrow 110. The second buyer 108now plays the reduced version of the music title and decides to acquirea full version of same. Therefore, he/she buys the full version of“mysong” from the provider 102 (see arrow 112) and in turn (arrow 114)obtains, from provider 102, the full version and/or the key forconverting the reduced version to the full version. In addition,information indicating that the second buyer 108 has obtained thereduced version from the first buyer 100 is passed on to the provider102. For this purpose, for example, the information associated with thereduced version may simply be passed on to the provider 102 from thesecond buyer 108, as is shown by arrow 116. On the basis of theinformation obtained from the second buyer 108, the provider 102determines the specified reward for the first buyer 100, e.g. in theform of a commission, and passes it on to the first buyer 100, as isindicated by arrow 118.

In the example shown in FIG. 1, provider 102, who offers a plurality ofmusic titles or other virtual products for sale, is provided. Theseproducts may be products that have been produced by the providerhimself/herself, or such products that have been produced by others andare marketed via the provider 102. In this case, that person who hascreated the music title “mysong” would initially register with theprovider 102 to ensure that the sales proceeds are proportionally givenalso to the true owner of the rights. This may be effected, for example,in a manner as has been described in DE 102 17 862 A.

With regard to FIGS. 2A and 2B, the inventive method for implementingthe procedures as have been described with reference to FIG. 1 will nowbe explained in more detail. The inventive method preferably starts bythe first buyer 100 buying the music title “mysong” at the provider 102in step 200. Then, in step 202, the provider 102 sends a full version of“mysong” and a reduced version of “mysong”, which additionally containsinformation associated with the first buyer, to the first buyer 100. Instep 204, the first buyer 100 passes on the reduced version, i.e. thepreview of “mysong”, to the second buyer 108, who, in step 206, decideswhether or not he/she wants to buy the full version of “mysong”. If thesecond buyer 108 does not want to buy the full version, he/she keeps thereduced version only, and the process ends at 208.

If the second buyer 108 decides to buy “mysong”, the process continuesat step 210, where the necessary transactions are performed to obtain apredetermined right to “mysong”, for example ownership, utilizationperiod limited in time, or the like. This transaction, for one thing,includes the indication of which rights the second buyer 108 wants toacquire (dependent on the available rights offered by the provider 102),and includes, secondly, the appropriate payment, which may be effectedusing a conventional online-payment system, e.g. Paybest, Micromoney,Paybox or the like. Once the transactions required for obtaining rightsto “mysong” have been successfully completed, the full version of“mysong”, for example, is provided to the second buyer 108 by theprovider 102 in step 212. In addition, it is now indicated that thepreview, on the basis of which the second buyer 108 has effected thepurchase, has been passed on to the second buyer 108 by the first buyer100. On the basis on this information, the provider 102 then determinesa reward to which the first buyer 100 is entitled.

FIG. 2B shows further steps in accordance with a preferred embodiment ofthe present invention, which relates to the inventive procedure if thesecond buyer 108 also passes on a reduced version of his/her music titleto an additional, third buyer. If the second buyer 108 is to be giventhis possibility, he/she receives, in a manner similar to the firstbuyer, a reduced version of “mysong” from provider 102, or creates, bymeans of suitable instruments, on the basis of the full version obtainedor of the reduced version available to him/her anyway, a new, reducedversion containing additional information that either only relate tohim/her, the second buyer 108, alone, or add, in addition to the firstbuyer 100, information about the second buyer 108 to the reducedversion. Once these actions have been effected in step 214, the secondbuyer may distribute, in step 216, the preview or the reduced versionthus altered to the third buyer. In step 218, the third buyer decideswhether he/she also wants to buy “mysong”. If this is not the case, theprocess ends at 220. If the third buyer wants to buy “mysong” and/orwants to acquire certain rights to it, the necessary transactions areperformed in step 222, in a manner similar to step 210. In step 224, ina manner similar to step 212, the necessary action is then performed tosend the full version of “mysong” to the third buyer. In addition, theinformation associated with the preview and relating to the first buyerand/or the second buyer is passed on to the provider to give theprovider the opportunity to pass on the specified reward to the firstbuyer and/or the second buyer.

The various above-described steps may now be repeated for any number ofother buyers.

FIG. 3 shows a graphic representation for illustrating a preferredembodiment of the inventive method, this embodiment being based on theassumption that a first buyer 100 receives only the original versionfrom the provider, and, in addition, has the necessary instruments, e.g.in the form of suitable software tools, that may be provided by theprovider, to create the reduced version with associated informationrelating to the first buyer 100. Alternatively, provision may of coursealso be made for both the original version and the reduced version withrelevant customer information to be transferred to the first buyer bythe provider, as has already been mentioned above.

The first buyer 100 has obtained an original version 300 of the virtualproduct, e.g. of the music title “mysong”, along with metadata 302associated with the original 300, and a key 304 (the key is onlyrequired for the “large previews” to at least partially encrypt the fullversion for creating the preview; for the “small preview”, no encryptionis performed). On the basis of the original 300, the metadata 302 andthe key 304, the reduced version (the preview) 308 of the original 300is created in a preview generator 306. Via further software tools, thepreview 308 is now associated buyer information 310 as well asinformation relating to the new purchase 312. This information 312relating to the new sale includes a reference to the content and areference to the server. In addition, a reference to the (new) buyer maybe given. In addition, the first buyer 300 may associate furtherinformation 314, e.g. in the form of a description, of texts or images,with the preview 308. On the basis of the preview 308 and the furtherinformation 310-314, a personalized preview (MyPreview) 318 is createdvia a personalization software 316. In addition to the actual preview,this personalized preview 318 now also contains all data required foridentifying the first buyer with sufficient accuracy, after thepassing-on and after the purchase of the original version by a thirdparty, so that the first buyer obtains the specified reward.

The first buyer 100 now has the possibility of passing on thepersonalized preview 318, as is shown at 320. The distribution to asecond buyer is effected either online or offline. This second buyer 108receives the personalized preview 318. The second buyer possesses theinstruments required for obtaining, from the preview 318 received, theinformation he/she is interested in. For this purpose, the extractor 322is provided, which creates, from the personalized preview 318, firstlythe original preview 308 as well as the information 302, 310, 312 and314 associated with same, but does not create the key 304. The secondbuyer 108 now has the possibility of viewing the preview 308 and todecide whether he/she wants to obtain the full version. If he/shedecides to acquire the full version, the necessary transactions areperformed, as has been described above, and, in addition, the buyerinformation 310 is passed on to the provider so as to initiate thereward to the first buyer 100. In addition, the second buyer 108obtains, after the purchase of the full version, the missing keyinformation 304. The expander 324, in turn, creates the original 300 onthe basis of the preview 308 and key 304.

FIG. 4 shows a representation of the actions being effected between afirst buyer, a second buyer and a server, if, after the acquisition of amusic title, the inventive method is performed using the so-called“small preview”. The acquisition here may be effected in a conventionalmanner, for example via an audio CD, or online, by acquiring anappropriate audio file. The description of FIG. 4 is based on theassumption that client A (see reference numeral 100) is a first buyerand/or a promoter who has already acquired, in the above-describedmanner, and now possesses a full version of the piece of music. Inaddition, the server 102 is provided, which, similar to the provider inFIGS. 1 and 2, contains and provides the necessary information for,firstly, providing the additional buyer with the information requiredfor enabling the full version, and, secondly, to send the buyer thereward to which he/she is entitled. In FIG. 4, the second buyer isreferred to as client B (see reference numeral 108).

Once the first buyer 100 has obtained the piece of music, he/she maydecide to participate in the inventive method, it being assumed, in thiscase, that he/she already possesses the instruments required. If this isnot the case, he/she may register with server 102, as a participant inthe method, and will then obtain the corresponding information foridentifying himself/herself towards the server, and will also obtain thesoftware tools required for performing the steps required. It shall beassumed, for the example of FIG. 4, that the first buyer 100 is alreadyregistered with server 102, i.e. that all the necessary preparatorysteps have already been taken. As has been mentioned above, examples ofsuch preparatory steps may be seen in DE 102 17 862 A.

If the first buyer 100 decides to participate in the method, i.e. topass on a reduced version of the piece of music required by him/her to athird party in the form of a preview, he/she initially selects, at 400,which contents, i.e. which pieces of music, are to be distributed inaccordance with the invention. It shall be assumed, by way of example,that only one piece of music, i.e. one content, is selected. Thosepieces of music that have been acquired by the first buyer 100 have eachbeen associated unique identification data, the so-called contentidentification data, which are also extracted in step 400. Subsequently,the login of the first buyer 100 at the server 102 and the transferal ofthe content identification data to the server 102 are performed so as toindicate to same for which pieces of music or contents the first buyer100 wants to participate in the inventive method (see arrow 402).

On the basis of the login information and the content identificationdata, the server 102 initially verifies, at 402, whether the first buyer100 is a registered user, and if this is confirmed, the metadataassociated with the content are retrieved, e.g., from the serverdatabase or from a separate metadata service. The metadata are asemantic description of the content and include, e.g., information aboutthe author, title, description, publication date, format, etc. Inaddition, the verification of the “admission” may include a furtherstep, i.e. the verification whether the registered user is alsopermitted to produce a preview for the respective content (for the eventthat a broker of rights does not want to admit this type ofdistribution). Subsequently, at 406, the transaction is produced, andthe metadata retrieved as well as the transaction data produced aretransferred back to the first buyer 100 at 408. The transaction is aparaphrase for various actions on the server which are associated withthe purchase.

Usually this includes payment to be effected at this point, and a uniquetransaction number to be created, which may then be used as “buyer info”(or indirect reference to the original buyer, 310) for previews.Obviously, there are other possibilities, e.g. introducing thecustomers' reference, login name or other information which uniquelyreference the customer. Based on the full version that the first buyer100 possesses, and based on the data that were received at 408 from theserver 102, at 410, the reduced version, the preview, is created, basedinitially only on the original version, and at 412, based on the furtherinformation relating to the first buyer 100 as well as on theinformation received from server 102, the preview created at 410 ispersonalized. This personalized preview may then be passed on, just likeat 414, to the second buyer 108, who, at 416, performs the stepsrequired for extracting those pieces of information from thepersonalized preview that have been added to it, so as to separate theinformation from the actual preview. The information may then beindicated, and the preview may be played, as shown in 418.

If the second buyer 108 decides to buy the full version of the musictitle, the content identification required for describing the musictitle to be acquired as well as the personalization data associated withthe first buyer 100 are passed on to server 102, as is shown at 420. At422, server 102 grants the specified reward to the first buyer, and at424, the purchase of the music title in its full version is effected bythe second buyer 108. Subsequently, at 426, server 102 sends the fullversion to the second buyer 108.

In connection with the above description of the procedure in accordancewith FIG. 4 it is to be noted that the content identification requiredat 400 may be implemented by a number of approaches. To be consideredfor this purpose are the CDDB protocol for audio CDs/physical carriers,so-called audio fingerprinting for individual titles as well as the useof any unique identification marks, as long as these are used in thesystem and are known to the user.

The creation of the preview, described at 410, may either be effectedusing a format of its own or using existing formats (e.g. MPEG-½ orMPEG-4), it being possible, if need be, to introduce additional data asancillary data, here, or, at MP3, in an ID tag. Within the framework ofthe creation of the preview, the original version is subject toquantitative and/or qualitative devaluation. Quantitative devaluation ofthe original may be effected, for example, by the above-described manualor automatic cutting of the music title and may either be specified onthe server 102 or is left up to the user 100 to decide. What is suitablefor qualitative devaluation of the original is a reduction of the bitrate and/or bandwidth of the full version. In addition, (recorded) voiceelements and/or noise/sounds may be inserted. Furthermore there is thepossibility of further coding, as has already been set forth above.

When creating the personalized preview version at 412, the additionalinformation, images, descriptions, evaluations, further metadata and thelike may be incorporated on the basis of XML and/or HTML technologies.The personalization and/or introduction of the further informationreferring to the buyer may be effected, for example, by entering anunencrypted or encrypted figure referring to the buyer in a direct orindirect (e.g. via a transaction number) manner. In addition, awatermark transporting the above-mentioned information may also beintroduced.

Optionally, the following security approaches may be implemented. In thecreation of the preview, the original content (the original fullversion) and the metadata may be connected, e.g. via thefingerprinting/audio fingerprinting technology (e.g. the use of audioID). To ensure the integrity an authenticity of data, methods such asfingerprinting and digital signatures may be used. Alternatively, it isalso possible to deposit a fingerprint. In addition, a securetransmission of the data may be performed using, e.g., the SSL (securesocket layer).

With reference to FIG. 5, a further embodiment of the present inventionwill be described below, which is similar to that in FIG. 4, but uses a“large preview” instead of the “small preview”. Those blocks shown inFIG. 5 which are identical to the blocks shown in FIG. 4 have been giventhe same reference numerals.

As a comparison of FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 reveals, the two methods mentioneddiffer only in a few aspects, it being worth mentioning, in particular,that the reduced version on the server is created by means ofencryption, and that in order to create the full version, the serveronly needs to pass on the matching key to the server.

In particular, in the subsequent step 428, in a manner similar to step406 in FIG. 4, a transaction, and, here, additionally a key, isinitially created in server 102 after the verification of the admissionand the retrieval of the metadata in step 404. On the basis of the keycreated in step 428, the reduced version of the original product, i.e.the preview, is created in server 102 in step 430 by encrypting at leastparts of the original. Subsequently, the thus produced preview istransmitted, along with the transaction data, to the first buyer 100, asis shown at 432. In step 412, as has already been shown in FIG. 4, thepersonalized preview is created, but here is created using the datareceived from the server.

The subsequent steps up to the purchase performed by the second buyer108 correspond to those in FIG. 4. Unlike in FIG. 4, however, in thisembodiment, no full version is sent to the second buyer 108 by server102 after purchase, but, as is shown at 434, it is rather the key fordecrypting that is transmitted to the second buyer 108, so that thelatter obtains, at 436, the full version, i.e. the original version, bydecrypting the encrypted parts of the “large preview”.

With regard to the creation of the preview in connection with the use ofthe “large previews”, two technologies are preferably considered. Thefirst technology is the so-called hierarchical coding. Here, theoriginal version is encrypted such that a so-called base layer with aninferior version of a lower bit rate is produced, and an improvementlayer is additionally provided, which is present in an encrypted manner.The latter may only be decrypted again with the corresponding key, whichthen results in the full version due to the combination of the twolayers.

A further approach to creating the large preview is audio-scrambling,which includes applying the encryption directly to the bit stream, sothat the absence of the appropriate key causes the audio quality to beimpaired.

With regard to the above description of the preferred embodiments withreference to FIGS. 3-5 it is to be pointed out that this description isspecifically related to audio data, but that the present invention isnot limited thereto. The inventive basic principles apply generally toall data by means of which a virtual product is represented, and here,they relate to multimedia data, in particular. In addition to theabove-described possibility of paying a commission to the first buyer100, there are, however, other possibilities of granting rewards,including, for example, bonuses, titles, privileges, contacts withartists, discounts, participations and the like.

In addition to these rewards being granted to the buyer 100, provisionmay be made, in accordance with a further embodiment, for these rewardsto additionally be granted to the second buyer 108 upon purchase of thefull version.

In addition to the above-described methods of creating a preview on theserver or on the part of the first buyer 100, provision may also bemade, alternatively, for prefabricated previews to be provided on server102, which will then simply be loaded down by the user 100.

Even though the description given with regard to FIGS. 4 and 5 relatedto embodiments wherein the personalization always is effected on thepart of the first buyer 100, this may also be effected on the serverside on the basis of information, relating to the first buyer 100, whichis available to the server 102 due to the registration of the firstbuyer 100, in this case there being only limited additional modelingpossibilities on the part of the first buyer 100.

Even though the above descriptions of the preferred embodiments relatedto methods wherein only one single preview is distributed to a furtherbuyer, it shall be pointed out that the present invention evidently isnot limited thereto. Rather, provision may be made of a modification tothe effect that the buyer 100 combines a plurality of previews to form apacket, and for the buyer to personalize this packet. This packet wouldthen be passed on to the further buyer 108 by the first buyer 100, andbuyer 108 could select and buy one, several or all previews from thepacket, the corresponding information then being passed on again, ineach case, to server 102 via the first buyer 100 so as to give the firstbuyer his/her reward.

In addition to the applications described in FIGS. 4 and 5, wherein adescription was given of a later-date participation in the inventivemethod following a traditional purchase (via a physical carrier) orfollowing an online purchase (via a file), there are also the followingfurther possibilities of using the inventive method.

In accordance with a first example, the inventive method might also beused with new acquisitions via a download portal, the method here beinginitialized directly by the server 102. The identification in accordancewith steps 400 and 402 would then be dispensed with. The server wouldobtain the necessary information about the buyer 100 directly from thosepieces of information provided within the frame-work of the purchase ofthe file by the buyer.

With P2P service providers, the files of the previews could be shardinstead of using the files of the originals.

With scout and preview portals, the previews are offered for freedownloading to perform a popularity test for the new content, this testbeing effected by measuring value and distribution. With the download,the necessary information would be polled by whoever started thedownload, so as to insert this information into the preview file.

Entry codes for specific previews are distributed via print media, inparticular at concerts, cinemas etc., additional information relating tothe purchaser being obtained within the framework of ordering thesepreviews, which information will then be provided to the purchaser in afile, along with the preview.

Provision may be made for mass distribution via networks or physicalcarriers, especially for the “large previews”. Here, personalizationwill not be aimed at the individual buyer, but rather at the companiesperforming the distribution within this framework, so that after apurchase of a full version due to a preview thus obtained, thecorresponding reward is granted to the promoter/company. However, thebasic principles would be the same, with the exception that here a groupof persons or a legal entity would be given the reward instead of theindividual buyer, as was the case in the embodiments described.

In accordance with the invention, an improved method is thus provided,by means of which a plurality of files may be passed on to thirdparties, it being made possible to reward a content provider/first buyerin the event that one of the further parties buys the full version onthe basis of the preview. The advantage is, in particular, that it is nolonger necessary to directly distribute the full version to the furtherthird party, but only the reduced version. Due to the specified reward,the present invention thus also provides an incentive for the firstbuyer not to pass on the original but merely the reduced preview.

Depending on the circumstances, the inventive method may be implementedin hardware or in software. The implementation may be on a digitalstorage medium, in particular a disc or CD with electronically readablecontrol signals which may cooperate with a programmable computer systemin such a manner that the appropriate method is performed. Thus, theinvention generally also consists in a computer-program product with aprogram code, stored on a machine-readable carrier, for performing theinventive method if the computer-program product runs on a computer. Inother words, the invention may thus be implemented as a computer programwith a program code for performing the method if the computer programruns on a computer.

The task assigned to the server described in the preferred embodiments,which server provides the necessary information and data for thecreation of previews and for personalization as well as for calculatingthe reward, may also be taken on by a central service/server (whichprovides the corresponding preview service for all content providers).

While this invention has been described in terms of several preferredembodiments, there are alterations, permutations, and equivalents whichfall within the scope of this invention. It should also be noted thatthere are many alternative ways of implementing the methods andcompositions of the present invention. It is therefore intended that thefollowing appended claims be interpreted as including all suchalterations, permutations, and equivalents as fall within the truespirit and scope of the present invention.

1. A method of providing a virtual product to third parties, the virtualproduct being present in an original version in a digital form having apredetermined quality, the method comprising: (a) providing a reducedversion of the virtual product, and information relating to adistributor of the virtual product, the reduced version of the virtualproduct having a quality which is inferior to the quality of theoriginal version, and the information relating to the distributor beingassociated with the reduced version of the virtual product; wherein, onthe basis of the information associated with the reduced version,additional information, which indicates that the reduced version of thevirtual product has been passed on to a third party by the distributor,may be created if the third party has acquired rights to the virtualproduct after obtaining the reduced version of the virtual product. 2.The method as claimed in claim 1, comprising: (b) passing on the reducedversion of the virtual product to the third party; and (c) if the thirdparty who has received the reduced version of the virtual product wantsto acquire rights to the virtual product in the original version, (c.1)performing the transaction required for obtaining a predetermined rightto the virtual product in the original version; and (c.2) uponcompletion of the transaction, receiving information to obtain theoriginal version of the virtual product, and (c.3) based on theinformation associated with the reduced version, creating informationindicating that the transaction is based on the passing-on of thereduced version of the virtual product by the distributor.
 3. The methodas claimed in claim 2, wherein the reduced version of the virtualproduct is a reduced-quality copy of the virtual product, and whereinstep (c.2) includes receiving the original version of the virtualproduct.
 4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein step (a) ofcreating the reduced version includes limiting the bit rate/bandwidth ofthe original version of the virtual product, inserting voice and/orsounds in the original version of the virtual product, hierarchicalcoding of the original version of the virtual product while eliminatingpredetermined improvement layers, and/or cutting the original version ofthe virtual product.
 5. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein thereduced version of the virtual product is an at least partiallyencrypted version of the original version of the virtual product, andwherein step (c.2) includes receiving a key for decrypting the encryptedversion.
 6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein step (a) includesat least partially encrypting the original version of the virtualproduct.
 7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein step (a) includesintroducing additional data into the reduced version of the virtualproduct.
 8. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein step (b) includespassing on the reduced version via a network, a wireless connectionand/or a portable storage medium.
 9. The method as claimed in claim 2,wherein the information created in step (c.3) indicates a reward for thedistributor.
 10. The method as claimed in claim 2, comprising: (d)providing a reduced version of the virtual product to the third partywho has acquired the predetermined right to the original version of thevirtual product; and (e) associating further information with thereduced version of the virtual product, the further information relatingto the distributor and/or the third party, so as to create, in a furtherpassing-on of the reduced version to a further third party, informationindicating that an acquisition of a predetermined right to the originalversion of the virtual product by the further third party is based onthe passing-on of the reduced version by the distributor and/or thethird party.
 11. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein thedistributor is a first buyer who has acquired a predetermined right tothe original version of the virtual product from a provider, and whereinthe third party is a second buyer.
 12. A computer program having aprogram code for carrying out the method as claimed in claim 1, if theprogram runs on a computer.